The “Close Alien” problem is addressed in the book a few ways
- An ancestor to astrophage seeded life in nearby star systems from Tau Ceti. Humans and Eridians are distantly related, and there’s likely life in lots of stars within the astrophage’s range, but not necessarily throughout the whole universe
- Humans and Eridians are similar technologically, because a more advanced civilization could solve the astrophage problem without traveling to Tau Ceti, and a less advanced one couldn’t travel there at all
- Rocky has been around Tau Ceti alone for over forty years before the Hail Mary arrives
Point 1 ignores stellar motion. Tau Ceti has been a close neighbor of Sol for a *very* brief time, and likely never was in the past. So it doesn't resolve the close alien problem.
When I read the book this was something I felt would have been better left out. Better to just posit an unlikely coincidence than put forward a truthy-sounding but wrong justification.
For me, the leap from a list of names and nouns to complex grammatical structures was the most unbelievable part. They must have been out there a long time.
I also thought it would be a little less of a kid movie. But I liked it okay.
I enjoyed the movie, and the book. I also bristled a little at the claim of accurate science. It would have been better with the caveat of 'accurate science in several key areas'. The writer had to disregard science in a number of places to serve the story.
One major inaccuracy that hit me the moment I read it was the reveal that g on the Alien planet was 20.48 m/s2. That's more than double Earth gravity. It is at the limit of human technology to solve the rocket equation and escape earth's gravity well. How the heck do the aliens manage that?
That's true, I'd forgotten that. The aliens don't solve the rocket equation, they bypass it. Xenon tech is so uber they use it to create a space elevator (but how do they get the counterweight up?). Climbing up the space elevator is how they even figure out there is such a thing as space, and stars and planets.
The atmosphere on the alien planet is so thick that no light reaches the surface, so they sense via sound. The alien is astounded at the human microscope. Their space exposure isn't enough for them to discover radiation, even though that kills them once they're outside the protection of their atmosphere, so is something they'd be motivated to figure out. The alien ship our hero meets is their first ship to even escape their gravity well. How do they even discover astrophage, let alone gather any? Discovering radiation would have been way easier, yet they can't do it. Yada, yada, yada.
It was a fun story and a fun movie. I just wish the author had either spent more time in the story design cycle to resolve more of the second order effects of the alien technology and society he created, or been less strong in his claim of accurate science.
Won't any scifi about meeting an alien have the feature that it describes a scenario in which humanity meets an alien of the kind that a human being would hypothesize existed beforehand?
There is something kinda odd going on in why we find certain improbable features acceptable to point out and others (like the property I just mentioned) which are perhaps just as unlikely not relevant.
Like what is the difference between depicting an unlikely but possible world where there are nearby intelligent creatures similar to us and an unlikely but possible world where there are nearby creatures which are exactly like some human author's guess about what is most likely (even if they are an expert in the relevant fields)? Not clear they aren't equally unlikely.
All very valid criticisms of the movie which apply equally well to the novel which was a decent read. I haven't seen the movie yet. I guess all stories like this have to relatable characters which would explain the similarities in cultures and the other differences are there because some suspension of disbelief is required to make a story work. However, I've heard that a good science fiction story takes one speculative premise or one big lie to make it work. Here you have pointed out, arguably, three potential big ones. If you haven't seen it you might want to check out Spaceman of Bohemia which oddly enough has a somewhat similar premise in which a solitary astronaut on a long term mission encounters an alien in his spacecraft also in the form of an arachnid! Both the novel and movie predate Project Hail Mary. I saw the movie and it is as I recall pretty strange and character driven film with a lot of introspection and backstory. The spider interacts with Adam Sandler's character (he is the astronaut) via telepathy. Really convincing effects.
Despite watching it at an uncrowded theater with big leather reclining chairs and cheap popcorn, Project Hail Mary was a bad movie - plus several awful sequels - all wrapped up into one log stretch of time which I’ll never get back. I was with my partner and our daughter so it was all good.
The “Close Alien” problem is addressed in the book a few ways
- An ancestor to astrophage seeded life in nearby star systems from Tau Ceti. Humans and Eridians are distantly related, and there’s likely life in lots of stars within the astrophage’s range, but not necessarily throughout the whole universe
- Humans and Eridians are similar technologically, because a more advanced civilization could solve the astrophage problem without traveling to Tau Ceti, and a less advanced one couldn’t travel there at all
- Rocky has been around Tau Ceti alone for over forty years before the Hail Mary arrives
The effects might help, but aren't remotely enough explain the huge closeness in space and time.
Point 1 ignores stellar motion. Tau Ceti has been a close neighbor of Sol for a *very* brief time, and likely never was in the past. So it doesn't resolve the close alien problem.
When I read the book this was something I felt would have been better left out. Better to just posit an unlikely coincidence than put forward a truthy-sounding but wrong justification.
Love the review. My takeaway after your last point is that the biggest problem with the science in Project Hail Mary just might be the social science.
Sorry they lost me at the "High school teacher plucked from obscurity" trope.
For me, the leap from a list of names and nouns to complex grammatical structures was the most unbelievable part. They must have been out there a long time.
I also thought it would be a little less of a kid movie. But I liked it okay.
I enjoyed the movie, and the book. I also bristled a little at the claim of accurate science. It would have been better with the caveat of 'accurate science in several key areas'. The writer had to disregard science in a number of places to serve the story.
One major inaccuracy that hit me the moment I read it was the reveal that g on the Alien planet was 20.48 m/s2. That's more than double Earth gravity. It is at the limit of human technology to solve the rocket equation and escape earth's gravity well. How the heck do the aliens manage that?
That’s the first ship the planet has sent, and they use the ultralight xenon material as the spaceship and astrophage as the fuel
That's true, I'd forgotten that. The aliens don't solve the rocket equation, they bypass it. Xenon tech is so uber they use it to create a space elevator (but how do they get the counterweight up?). Climbing up the space elevator is how they even figure out there is such a thing as space, and stars and planets.
The atmosphere on the alien planet is so thick that no light reaches the surface, so they sense via sound. The alien is astounded at the human microscope. Their space exposure isn't enough for them to discover radiation, even though that kills them once they're outside the protection of their atmosphere, so is something they'd be motivated to figure out. The alien ship our hero meets is their first ship to even escape their gravity well. How do they even discover astrophage, let alone gather any? Discovering radiation would have been way easier, yet they can't do it. Yada, yada, yada.
It was a fun story and a fun movie. I just wish the author had either spent more time in the story design cycle to resolve more of the second order effects of the alien technology and society he created, or been less strong in his claim of accurate science.
Won't any scifi about meeting an alien have the feature that it describes a scenario in which humanity meets an alien of the kind that a human being would hypothesize existed beforehand?
There is something kinda odd going on in why we find certain improbable features acceptable to point out and others (like the property I just mentioned) which are perhaps just as unlikely not relevant.
Like what is the difference between depicting an unlikely but possible world where there are nearby intelligent creatures similar to us and an unlikely but possible world where there are nearby creatures which are exactly like some human author's guess about what is most likely (even if they are an expert in the relevant fields)? Not clear they aren't equally unlikely.
That movie was a slog. A very long kid’s film, it turns out. I wasn’t expecting Flight of the Navigator.
Sunshine with Cillian Murphy is superior, with similar plot.
All very valid criticisms of the movie which apply equally well to the novel which was a decent read. I haven't seen the movie yet. I guess all stories like this have to relatable characters which would explain the similarities in cultures and the other differences are there because some suspension of disbelief is required to make a story work. However, I've heard that a good science fiction story takes one speculative premise or one big lie to make it work. Here you have pointed out, arguably, three potential big ones. If you haven't seen it you might want to check out Spaceman of Bohemia which oddly enough has a somewhat similar premise in which a solitary astronaut on a long term mission encounters an alien in his spacecraft also in the form of an arachnid! Both the novel and movie predate Project Hail Mary. I saw the movie and it is as I recall pretty strange and character driven film with a lot of introspection and backstory. The spider interacts with Adam Sandler's character (he is the astronaut) via telepathy. Really convincing effects.
Worst movie I’ve seen in recent memory. Infantile.
The unbalanced microfuge…
Despite watching it at an uncrowded theater with big leather reclining chairs and cheap popcorn, Project Hail Mary was a bad movie - plus several awful sequels - all wrapped up into one log stretch of time which I’ll never get back. I was with my partner and our daughter so it was all good.
Sourpuss.
The Eridians are our Panspermia siblings, and Astrophage is too. I think this justifies all three of your observations.
In the novel. I don't recall if the movie made this sufficiently clear.
No Panspermia siblings isn't remotely enough to explain the high correlations and similarity
From my friend, who is an astrophysicist and worked for 16 years as a research scientist in one of the largest academic institutions in the world.:
"It’s exactly my kind of novel: nuts-and-bolts hard science fiction packed with detailed (and mostly accurate) science...".
https://schroodle.com/p/project-hail-mary-is-a-christian
Well said. Cannot argue with these observations.
That said, the Novel was an enormously enjoyable read … and I’m looking extremely forward to seeing the movie when I am in better health!!